I Hope Liking Midwest Emo Isn't Anti-Feminist

Or, on my favorite whiny man music

I was getting ready to go to my parent’s for a long weekend, and I spent the time singing along to The Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball. I felt somewhere between shocked, embarrassed, and impressed with myself that I knew all the lyrics to the songs that popped up on shuffle. I mean, sure, I own Back on Top on vinyl and Modern Baseball made up three of my most-listened to songs in December, but I guess I was still hoping that I didn’t actually like complainy man music that much. Sure, the songs aren’t directly sexist, but willingly listen to a man whine-sing about his ex-girlfriend feels anti-feminist.

I remember in late high school, I was friends with a guy who liked Modern Baseball. I gave a singular listen to “Twin Sized Mattress” and decided, not for me. The dislike didn’t stick with me, I suppose.

While both The Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball (the two midwest emo bands I am most familiar with) can be ridiculous, within their songs, they have small moments of sincerity. Regardless of the tone-deafness of some of the singing, there is a stubbornness to the genre I adore. Like in the end of The Front Bottom’s “Cough It Out”, when Brian Sella declares “Whatever I did for you last year, I cannot do again” after it is obvious he wants to do it all again. Or in “Summer Shandy” when Sella dreams of “beach house living”, with infinite beers to drink and late night swims to go on.

Someone once told me that Modern Baseball was like if the Front Bottoms tried harder, and there’s a truth to it. The simple sadness at the beginning of “do-over”, where Jacob Ewald half-whines: “I want to start from the top, maybe like a do-over” rarely fails to remind me of all the decisions I wish I could change, all the beginnings I would love to start from. Or, in “Your Graduation” (their most popular song, admittedly) the indignation of “Just admit it, you f**king miss me” that is repeated again and again.

Basically, regardless of midwest emo’s cringe factor and loose relationship with staying in key, I think there is a silly beauty to it. While it’s fun to listen to music that expresses negative emotions in beautiful ways, I think there is a power in listening to music that objectively sucks as bad as the feelings do.

Plus, if you know someone who is the type of person to listen to midwest emo, they are probably the type of person who can make fun of themselves. My roommate, O, insists on trying to do her impression of The Front Bottoms’ “Twin Sized Mattress” and the awfulness of the impression is as fun as the lyrics are dark.

**Side note, there is definitely a type of man who listens to midwest emo who would hate me for listening to the popular stuff and then proceeding to make fun of the whole genre. Oh well, this isn’t for you.